Vald (Wald) (née Movshovich) Sofia Hirshovna (born 9 July 1938, Kaunas, Lithuania) – clerical worker.
Sofia Vald was born into the family of accountant Hirsh Bentsionovich Movshovich (b. 1898, Kelmė, Lithuania – perished in 1944 in the Kaunas Ghetto, which the retreating Nazis blew up along with its prisoners) and housewife Malka Pinkhusovna Movshovich (née Shlosberg) (b. 1908, Kaunas – also perished in 1944 in the Kaunas Ghetto under the same circumstances).
The family did not manage to evacuate and ended up in the ghetto. In 1943, a close family acquaintance, Jadvyga Simonavičienė, who had worked before the war with Sofia’s maternal aunt Hana Pinkhusovna Shlosberg, miraculously managed to take the five-year-old girl out of the ghetto. Jadvyga hid her for some time and later sent her to her mother’s farmstead, where the child was kept in hiding until autumn 1944.
In 1945, Jadvyga tracked down Sofia’s uncle in Vilnius – Shleima Bentsionovich Movshovich, in whose family Sofia lived for two years. In spring 1947, she was taken in by another uncle from Riga – Khaim Bentsionovich Movshovich, and was raised in his household.
In Riga, Sofia completed her education at Railway Secondary School No. 1, and later graduated from Secondary School No. 9 in 1955. She worked as an apprentice fitter at the VEF Factory (1956), as a knitter at the City Trade Industrial Enterprise (1957–1958), and as a cashier controller at the Communal Bank (1958–1960). From 1960 to 1970, she worked in the social welfare system.
From her marriage to Izoslav Borisovich Vald (b. 1934, Kharkiv, Ukraine), a daughter was born: Dana Izoslavovna Vald (b. 1970, Riga).
In 1973, Sofia Vald applied for emigration to the United States but was refused.
In 1974, she received permission to emigrate to Israel, where since 1972 her cousin Gilel Davidovich Kupritz (b. 1913, Kaunas) had been living. She later emigrated to the United States.
Hirsh Bentsionovich Movshovich (1898–1944) – father
Malka Pinkhusovna Movshovich (née Shlosberg) (b. 1908 – d. 1944) – mother
Izoslav Borisovich Vald (b. 1934) – husband
Dana Izoslavovna Vald (b. 1970) – daughter
Gilel Davidovich Kupritz (b. 1913) – cousin